Waiting
by Sonata Appassionata
Summary: The war is over. Gaia has fallen. Olympus is saved. And Reyna is waiting. Because as hard as it is to wait for something that will never come, it is harder to give up when you know it's everything you want. Jeyna. Oneshot. Futurefic.


**Disclaimer: me no own, you no sue :)**

**Please read and review!**

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_"It is hard to wait for something that will ever happen, but it is much more difficult to give up when you know it is everything you need."_

_-Unknown_

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The war is over. Gaia has fallen. Olympus is saved.

The injured are healing. The dead are remembered. The camps are at peace.

And Reyna Avilla Ramirez Arellano waits.

* * *

The goddess Calypso has been released from her island. She is reunited with Leo Valdez in an explosion of joy and disbelief, which of course is followed by a hasty round of denial and declarations of hate. Laughter from the others soon ensues, and Calypso is introduced to the other demigods.

So Reyna laughs along with everyone, giving Calypso a smile, and tries to ignore the little pang in her chest.

* * *

Reyna watches as Hazel Levesque lies in an infirmary, recovering from a poisoned wound to the shoulder. She is doing well, sitting up in bed with a sketchbook in front of her, serenely smiling as shafts of sunlight filter through the curtains. Frank Zhang sits beside her, peering over her shoulder and asking totally pointless and random questions about what she is drawing, and something along the lines about how she is planning to become the next Picasso. Hazel shoves him in the chest.

Something rises in Reyna's chest, hot and painful, pressing at her throat, behind her eyes. She blinks hard and turns away. So she leaves Frank and Hazel to each other. The best thing to do is to not interfere with the time two lover have with each other.

(Oh, doesn't she know it, first hand?)

* * *

Annabeth Chase sits at the table of the Poseidon cabin, papers spread all around her, with a very annoying boyfriend trying to distract her from her work. Muttering about dimensions and support columns, she tries her best to ignore Percy loudly eating crackers beside her.

The Zeus temple will definitely have to be bigger, right in the centre of Olympus. The Apollo and Artemis temples will stand side by side. And the Athena temple...

She frowns, lost in thought.

Just as she is reaching a conclusion, Percy gives her a sharp little poke in the ribs.

She turns toward him, glaring. "Get out, Percy Jackson."

Percy simply grins, and pokes her once more.

So Reyna looks through the sketches and blueprints when Annabeth shows them to her the next day, and putting on a smile, tells Annabeth that she has done a great job.

* * *

Jason Grace wraps his arm around Piper McLean and rise up into the air. The winds gently support them, pushing them skywards. Gradually they pick up speed, zipping above and between trees with shouts of exhilaration. The wind whistles in their ears. Piper closes her eyes and lets Jason take her soaring.

So, somewhere below, Reyna simply watches, expressionless. Not so long ago, it used to be her in Jason's arms, soaring up and up and up...

* * *

"Leo and Calypso's Garage: Auto Repair and Mechanical Monsters!" Leo announces proudly as he drags Reyna into the little store. His hands are greasy. So are his clothes. He has grown taller over the years, and slightly buffer too, but he grins up at her with all the goofiness of a baby dolphin.

Calypso smiles at Reyna. Her cinnamon toast hair is tied up into a loose ponytail, and she has a grease smudge on her shirt. She wraps an arm around Leo's waist.

Reyna looks around. The store is filled with oiled weaponry, machine parts and gardening tools, which a little stage at the back with a wreath of flowers, which looks tastefully out of place.

Reyna grins, taking a gulp of her lemonade as Leo gives Calypso a loud, obvious kiss on the cheek. Leo looks so happy, she observes. She should feel pleased for him, for finally finding someone right for him after ages of feeling like an outcast.

But still, seeing them so contented together, a lump forms in Reyna's throat.

Leo is so lucky, a sinking part of her heart thinks. Lucky, contented, loved.

(So unlike you.)

* * *

It is raining. Dionysus had called it down to punish some camper for reasons Reyna has no idea of. Reyna looks out of the Big House window, gazing across the Greek temples and buildings that still seem so different to her.

That's when she sees them: two silhouettes by the lake. A familiar, familiar man with blonde hair and a different, different girl with dark hair and little braids down the side. She watches transfixed, as the figure of the man kneels down before the girl, producing something small - like a small, ornate box - from his hand. The woman's hands fly to her mouth. She grabs the man's hands and pull him toward her. Their figures meld, woven together by the grey sheets of rain, blurring into one.

Reyna's breath hitches, and soon she is gasping and blinking. Her body is numb, her chest and throat constricted as a strange, strangled sound escapes her mouth.

* * *

"I'm getting engaged to Piper," Jason tells her. His voice is smooth, but Reyna can hear the awkwardness somewhere inside, and see the way his hand fidgets with the hem of his shirt. "I figured you'd better know it first hand, rather than hear it as some rumor from someone else."

Bile rises in Reyna's throat, slowly turning into anger. So Jason will cast her aside just like this? _I was there first! _she wants to scream_. I was there before her, Juno took you away, before _she_ came! We made plans together! We were going to form armies together! Did _Piper_ ever do that with you?_

"Congratulations," she primly manages, taking a deep breath to control herself. It will not do to lose control, to succumb to anger or grief. Not now. Not in front of Jason. Jason, so near, so beautiful and golden it literally hurt. His face is tantalizing close, his eyes, his lips, his hands... She can smell the scent of his hair, the familiar _Jason_ feel that longs for so much. Jason. Jason. Jason. Reyna's Jason. Reyna's love. Reyna's... _precious_...

Except now he's Piper's. No longer Reyna's.

He looks at her, a little anxiously, the scar on his lip tilting. She forces a smile, though her heart is breaking.

As Jason turns away, she knows that she has lost him forever.

* * *

But even so, Reyna cannot forget him. How can she, when he is everything she needs?

The days past. Then the months. Then the years.

The war is over. Gaia has fallen. Olympus is saved.

Leo and Calypso's business blossoms. Annabeth graduates from college with a degree in architecture. Frank and Hazel enjoy their lasting, stable relationship.

Jason marries Piper.

And Reyna remembers Jason. She remembers him, and she waits for the day when she can be his, even when she knows in her heart that it will never come.

So she waits, waits for something that will never happen.

Because it is so much harder to give up when she knows that it is everything she wants.

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